10 gallon thought vomit

[Cinnebuns]

I apologize in advance if this gets long. I kinda wanna organize my thoughts and get feed back. 

I have a vacant 10 gallon tank. I have been spending the past 4 hours researching different stocking ideas and none hit me like i want them to. I feel like I wanna find the idea that I just can't live without so I spend enough time with the tank like I do my main tank. 

Livestock I currently have that can go in:  mystery snails (5), Japanese trapdoor snails (3, hopefully breeding), nerite snails (7), honey gourami, red thicklipped gourami, panda cories (breeding), blue/red dragon guppies (breeding).  This is basically the stocking of my 29 gallon main tank. My thoughts are that some can be moved and added to the 10 if I decide so, especially snails as I went a little overboard with them lol. It is helpful that all species are small and could be added to a 10 gallon. 

Species I don't have and am interested in keeping someday:  CRABS!!  Except I don't wanna do half land so that's limiting and idk why but I'm wary of sand substrate and idk how a pom pom would do with fine gravel. Mustard gas or alien or random pretty betta, ember tetras, rummy nose tetras, a different cory than pandas especially a "colored" one, hillstream loach, dwarf or powder blue gourami

Ideas I have but not completely convinced of:

1.  Betta + ember tetras + mystery and/or nerite snail(s)  -  pretty classic, not sure if a betta is the type of care for me or not is my hesitation. Maybe more research is required. They def are amazingly beautiful fish. 

2. Honey or thicklipped gourami from my 29 + undecided schooling and/or small cories + undecided snails

3.  I have been looking a lot into dwarf cichlids and dwarf rainbow fish but I'm not entirely sure how it would work yet. Idk if I wanna get into fish that require more advanced feeding yet. I do know I love breeding and it sounds like apistos are fun to breed so maybe that's some motivation to get a pair of those and do more research. I do love color!

4.  Forget the pretty tank and raise magenta mystery snails. Good for profit + I would never have to buy one again. I enjoy breeding. I do hear horror stories of people raising a clutch in a 10 gallon and having to do 2x daily water changes. That would honestly not be possible with some health considerations I have.  I could do half clutches to avoid that maybe. 

5.  MOAR GUPPIES!!  This idea would put a group of male guppies in my 29 gallon and would keep 2 breeding females in the 10 gallon along with fry too young to be sexed. As they age I would divide them into male and female tanks. I'm not sure I will NEED that much space but it's an idea. 

6.  White cloud minnows.  Someone tell me why this is a good tank please. I guess I don't know enough about it to understand the attraction. It does have the added benefit of some breeding which, as I mentioned, I enjoy. 

Any additional ideas are welcome. Congrats if you read the whole thing. You get 10 points!  Spend it wisely!  Also, I hope I didn't get any thought vomit on your shoes. 

Edited April 8, 2022 by Cinnebuns

[Scapexghost]

I wouldn't be wary of sand. There are a few downsides but nothing that should stop you from getting your dream fish (or dream crab). If you want a crab get a crab. Imaginitarium makes a pretty coarse sand so maybe pick up that if your hesitant to get a finer sand. 

[Tanked]

On 4/8/2022 at 2:38 AM, Cinnebuns said:

I apologize in advance if this gets long. I kinda wanna organize my thoughts and get feed back. 

I have a vacant 10 gallon tank. I have been spending the past 4 hours researching different stocking ideas and none hit me like i want them to. I feel like I wanna find the idea that I just can't live without so I spend enough time with the tank like I do my main tank. 

Livestock I currently have that can go in:  mystery snails (5), Japanese trapdoor snails (3, hopefully breeding), nerite snails (7), honey gourami, red thicklipped gourami, panda cories (breeding), blue/red dragon guppies (breeding).  This is basically the stocking of my 29 gallon main tank. My thoughts are that some can be moved and added to the 10 if I decide so, especially snails as I went a little overboard with them lol. It is helpful that all species are small and could be added to a 10 gallon. 

Species I don't have and am interested in keeping someday:  CRABS!!  Except I don't wanna do half land so that's limiting and idk why but I'm wary of sand substrate and idk how a pom pom would do with fine gravel. Mustard gas or alien or random pretty betta, ember tetras, rummy nose tetras, a different cory than pandas especially a "colored" one, hillstream loach, dwarf or powder blue gourami

Ideas I have but not completely convinced of:

1.  Betta + ember tetras + mystery and/or nerite snail(s)  -  pretty classic, not sure if a betta is the type of care for me or not is my hesitation. Maybe more research is required. They def are amazingly beautiful fish. 

2. Honey or thicklipped gourami from my 29 + undecided schooling and/or small cories + undecided snails

3.  I have been looking a lot into dwarf cichlids and dwarf rainbow fish but I'm not entirely sure how it would work yet. Idk if I wanna get into fish that require more advanced feeding yet. I do know I love breeding and it sounds like apistos are fun to breed so maybe that's some motivation to get a pair of those and do more research. I do love color!

4.  Forget the pretty tank and raise magenta mystery snails. Good for profit + I would never have to buy one again. I enjoy breeding. I do hear horror stories of people raising a clutch in a 10 gallon and having to do 2x daily water changes. That would honestly not be possible with some health considerations I have.  I could do half clutches to avoid that maybe. 

5.  MOAR GUPPIES!!  This idea would put a group of male guppies in my 29 gallon and would keep 2 breeding females in the 10 gallon along with fry too young to be sexed. As they age I would divide them into male and female tanks. I'm not sure I will NEED that much space but it's an idea. 

6.  White cloud minnows.  Someone tell me why this is a good tank please. I guess I don't know enough about it to understand the attraction. It does have the added benefit of some breeding which, as I mentioned, I enjoy. 

Any additional ideas are welcome. Congrats if you read the whole thing. You get 10 points!  Spend it wisely!  Also, I hope I didn't get any thought vomit on your shoes. 

I mentioned in a different forum that my 10 gallon became an experimental tank for testing different substrates, hardscapes etc. on a small scale.  it evolved into a last chance plant only tank. The next evolution could be shrimp.  Alternatively a group of Ember Tetras or similar to add a solid pop of color.

[sairving]

I wouldn't be worried about sand substrate. There are various grain sizes and you could use pool filter sand. I just redid the substrate in my 10 gallon. The only reason I didn't use pool filter sand (Menards brand) this time was because I didn't like the color. 

Currently, I have a nerite snail, a pygmy cory, and a betta. I had more pygmy cories but lost some 2 weeks after I bought them. My lfs has not had any in stock for months. Louie the Grumpy betta does alright with tank mates. If you do decide on a betta, have a backup plan if they don't get along with tank mates.

[lefty o]

i get all 10 points. out of what you listed, i myself would likely opt for the white clouds. i like the color and movement, and they dont require heat.

[Patrick_G]

Have you thought about some Killifish? They might be a fun breeding for profit project. 
 

 

[drewzero1]

I had my white clouds in a 10g for a few years, recently moved them to a 20L and I'm also looking into options. My current plan is probably a honey gourami and six porkchop rasboras. Would really love to try a dwarf gourami but sources are mixed whether they need a 20.

Honestly though white clouds were perfect. No heater + sponge filter meant I didn't need any wires going into the tank, maintenance was easy and their low bioload meant I didn't have to do it often. They had fry but not too many, and I didn't have to do anything special for a handful to survive.

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/7/2022 at 11:38 PM, Cinnebuns said:

3.  I have been looking a lot into dwarf cichlids and dwarf rainbow fish but I'm not entirely sure how it would work yet. Idk if I wanna get into fish that require more advanced feeding yet. I do know I love breeding and it sounds like apistos are fun to breed so maybe that's some motivation to get a pair of those and do more research. I do love color!

I would recommend just having a bolivian ram solo tank and treat it like a betta tank.

On 4/8/2022 at 5:37 AM, Scapexghost said:

Imaginitarium makes a pretty coarse sand so maybe pick up that if your hesitant to get a finer sand. 

I don't know if it's the same one, but the imagitarium stuff around here labeled as sand is basically very small particle gravel. Same material and stuff, but just a smaller particle size.

 

On 4/7/2022 at 11:38 PM, Cinnebuns said:

6.  White cloud minnows.  Someone tell me why this is a good tank please. I guess I don't know enough about it to understand the attraction. It does have the added benefit of some breeding which, as I mentioned, I enjoy. 

you can also keep these with the bolivian ram, but keep in mind temp (and flow) requirements.

Edited April 8, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[Cinnebuns]

On 4/8/2022 at 9:42 AM, Patrick_G said:

Have you thought about some Killifish? They might be a fun breeding for profit project. 
 

 

I have!  The thing I question is it hard to feed them?  Do they require live or frozen?  Honestly that's the big thing I found that made me hesitate. Otherwise I think it's a brilliant idea. I might have to do more research!

[drewzero1]

I keep thinking of more things I wanted to say about the minnows, because I really do love keeping them. They have a subtle beauty that isn't always immediately obvious, until you see them flare their fins at each other. The silver edging on the fins and the splashes of red really stand out in person in a way that's difficult to capture on camera. I love the meandering unpredictability of their swimming pattern. And they were such a low-stress fish to keep... honestly, keeping them in the old 10 gallon was easier than breaking down the tank.

[Cinnebuns]

@Patrick_G the more I think about it the more I like the idea of the killifish or white cloud minnows. Both would give me both a nice fun tank AND low effort breeding. The killifish seem more beautiful of the 2 and more appealing to me personally. I did some more research. Seems it's true the do better on live or frozen food but sometimes will accept floating foods?  Honestly the more I thought about it, the less complicated that sounds. Frozen isn't that bad. Although maybe more expensive. I already have frozen bbs I used with my fry so it's not a huge deal, just buy in larger quantities. 

It sounds like other than the feeding the rest is pretty simple. Give them some cave like structures and plants for hiding. More females than males if possible. Would probably do 1 male and 1 to 2 females to start. They pretty much do the breeding on their own. First batch might eat the 2nd batch so every other batch will survive. Honestly this is sounding doable. 

Any other info you think I would need that I missed?

[Patrick_G]

@Fish Folk is a very successful Killifish breeder. I bet he’ll chime in with some expert advice. 
I think I’m going to try breeding them, after I get a few more projects finished.